New O/O, Old truck what do I need to keep her in top shape?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by JbugBDT, Nov 20, 2024.

  1. D.Tibbitt

    D.Tibbitt Road Train Member

    21,660
    147,852
    Apr 26, 2013
    Gettin' down westbound
    0
    Ten4 I'll give it a shot
     
    snowwy and Oxbow Thank this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. ElmerFudpucker

    ElmerFudpucker Road Train Member

    4,809
    52,300
    May 17, 2024
    0
    A lot of them came with an e9. But not many are for sale. Those that are, are higher than a giraffe’s ###
     
    Sons Hero, JbugBDT and Oxbow Thank this.
  4. zinita17601

    zinita17601 Road Train Member

    1,317
    1,603
    Aug 19, 2010
    lancaster pa
    0
    Shutting down the engine immediately cuts off oil supply to the hot turbo bearings,also pockets of air in the cooling system creates hot spots,letting the truck idle for couple of minutes will allow the temperature to normalize.
    Warming up a diesel engine is not just to allow oil to circulate,engine components are made from different materials that have very different expansion rates,by allowing each component to reach its maximum expansion before starting to operate the truck will help prevent premature failures,leaks and excessive wear.
    Thats the theory behind it and to me it makes a lot of sense.
     
    JbugBDT and dosgatos Thank this.
  5. Dino soar

    Dino soar Road Train Member

    4,791
    26,878
    Dec 8, 2017
    0
    I think you have a lot of knowledge you're going to have to gain and people can give you some tips on here but you're going to have to get some information on really how to maintain your truck and what to look for and if you're going to work on it you're going to have to learn how to do the repairs.

    I think e-z rider has YouTube videos that show how to do brake jobs and things like that.

    But what you really need to do is to scour all these pages of this website here and go into the search feature and search for all of your answers. You can find the bridge law you can find how to maintain your engine and why you shouldn't idle and all of the other things to go along with it.

    The very main thing I will tell you is that before you put that truck into service to run every day you should do the things that I outlined for the truck to be Dependable or have someone do them for you.

    For myself any unknown truck I would put into service it's urgent that you're going to turn the key and use it and not be constantly working on it even for little stupid things.

    So it's even making sure your windows go up and down properly and you don't have crazy rattles and your weather stripping isn't letting air in and all of it needs to be ready so you can just work.

    Then when something happens, and it will, you have one thing to deal with at a time rather than one thing plus another 25 you've been putting off or that weren't done.

    That's the difference between a good truck and a junk truck.

    A good truck everything is kept up on and you can turn the key and go.

    A bad truck, whoever had it let everything go and let everything go and let everything go, and now the truck itself can't go until you do a bazillion things to it.

    And then it gets to the point it's not worth doing anything to it it's just junk.

    The information is all here it's all available for you like I said you've got a lot of reading and learning to do.

    Also there's Facebook groups that you can join I'm sure they can give you information about repairs and such.
     
    JbugBDT Thanks this.
  6. JbugBDT

    JbugBDT Light Load Member

    50
    30
    Apr 26, 2024
    Northern Indiana
    0

    Hell yeah thanks for the comment! I’ve already bought a few books/manuals on the subject, and been doing a ton of searching online. This is what the internet was made for to learn and share knowledge. So I do really appreciate everyone commenting.
     
  7. SmallPackage

    SmallPackage Road Train Member

    5,450
    17,299
    Dec 20, 2019
    Marion Texas
    0
    The only thing that took most of them old R models off of the road down here was cab cancer. The engine, chassis and drivetrain were indestructible. The oilfield service and chemical companies had tons of them down here. They would get pretty bad rot in the backs of the cabs in the joint where the floor and back wall are pinched together. The cab mounts would deteriorate. The firewall to cowl joints were another problem spot. Many rotted from the inside out so you have to check in the tight spots from the inside. Pull seats and rubber floor mats up. Get up under the dash real good. I always loved those cabs And one of the first ones I remember riding in was a 1976 or so going down a long rough east Tejas rig road, bouncing shoulder to shoulder with a good friend of my dad’s in a BJ Hughes services truck.
    It’s a shame Mack didn’t build them cabs out of aluminum for better corrosion resistance but then they all probably woulda ended up scrapped as beer cans like the 100’s of thousands of Pete and Kw cab overs did.
     
    JbugBDT, 201 and Oxbow Thank this.
  8. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

    20,544
    13,279
    Jul 6, 2009
    0
    It's a beautiful thing in hot weather. When you don't over do it.

    I heat it up on the cab in warm weather.
     
  9. ElmerFudpucker

    ElmerFudpucker Road Train Member

    4,809
    52,300
    May 17, 2024
    0
    May as well just use STP. Same stuff
     
  10. 201

    201 Road Train Member

    12,286
    25,098
    Apr 16, 2014
    high plains colorado
    0
    I don't recall them being called bricks, perhaps a regional dialect, and the "2 stick" was not a splitter or aux. trans. The 1 stick was a 5 speed, and the other stick was R-L-H, and I was told specifically by the boss, DO NOT SPLIT, L was just a lower 1st gear, and rarely used. It's feature was you could have a 5 speed PTO. Besides, the 300/5 speed was the "lazy mans truck", as the Maxidyne motor would pull down to 1300 and redline at 2100, so a 5 speed was adequate. I wear a back brace today thanks in part to that truck,,:mad:. That truck shook so bad, it would pop out of gear. When I informed the boss, his reply, yeah, yeah, I hear it all the time, the truck rides worse on a Monday than on a Friday,,lot of Mack stories because they were so popular.
     
    JbugBDT Thanks this.
  11. JbugBDT

    JbugBDT Light Load Member

    50
    30
    Apr 26, 2024
    Northern Indiana
    0
    I’ll have to check all those problem spots. I did notice that the rubber mounts on the body of the truck where the hood sits one of them is crumbling due to age.
     
    Oxbow Thanks this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.